4. Marxist Explanations Of Crime And Deviance

Question 1

Define criminogenic capitalism

Answer 1

Capitalism by its nature, brings the likelihood of crime.

Question 2

Criminogenic capitalism: What does the capitalist society promote?

Answer 2

-Promotes financial success, excessive wealth, greed, individualism
-Capitalism encourages competition, economic self interest, financial independence
-Capitalism promotes false needs

Question 3

Criminogenic capitalism: What does clear advertising show us?

Answer 3

-Shows us the good life, the good things that we are then convinced to buy
-Capitalist creates false needs but does not provide opportunities to meet those needs so people turn to crime.
-Greed and individualism leads people to use whatever means necessary.

Question 4

Criminogenic capitalism: What are even the richest not protected against?

Answer 4

-Even the riches are not protected from the lures of crime
-Capitalism creates a ‘dog eat dog’ society, crime is a rational response
-Lack of opportunity makes crime a reasonable alternative, society is not humanely organised and bears some responsibility to the crime it encourages.

Question 5

2. The law reflects ruling class ideology

Answer 5

-Ruling class are setting the laws
-Rules not product of value consensus but reflect ruling class ideology
-Law is ideologically constructed
-Laws which are not passed just as important
-Gov accused of only passing laws against corporations when forced to do so

Question 6

3. Selective law enforcement

Answer 6

-Street crimes are the crimes most heavily policed.
-Justice system acts as a repressive state apparatus keeping the undesirable people in line.

Question 7

3. Selective law enforcement: Which crime are not policed?

Answer 7

-Corporate crimes/ crimes of the rich not policed near as much
-High proportion of prisoners WC yet corporate crime causes farm more harm and has biggest financial effects
-Rich if caught more likely to win their court case

Question 8

What are the 2 claims made by neo-Marxists?

Answer 8

1. No one is forced to commit crime; its a choice.
2. Working class criminals are Robin Hood figures

Question 9

Neo-Marxism: The new criminology

Answer 9

-People have choice over if they commit crime not down to poverty, biology, disorganised areas etc
-Crimes are deliberate, conscience planned acts usually with a political motive
-Laws are unecessarily intolerant and restrictive

Question 10

What was the ‘Policing crisis’

Answer 10

-The establishment creates a moral panic over WC street crime to distract from other matters and reassert their position of power
-The scapegoats were young black people who became demonised in the media this helped justify more repressive and aggressive policing.

Question 11

Criticism of Marxist and Neo-Marxists theories

Answer 11

-Overemphasise property crime
-Overemphasise class inequality
-Focus on male criminality
-Too deterministic seeing people as forced into crime by circumstances beyond their control
-Difficult to interpret that all laws reflect ruling class ideology
-Pay little interest to victims of crimes